In Defense of the CEO

A $90,000 area rug, a pair of guest chairs that cost almost as much, a $35,000 toilet and a $1,400 trash can — these are just a few of the expenses from a remodeling of John Thain’s office when he took over as Merrill Lynch’s chief executive officer in December 2007. The total bill came to an astonishing $1.2 million — about the price of five average single-family homes.

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